🎶 Music from Around the World

Music is a special sound that makes us feel happy, sleepy, or ready to dance. People everywhere make music with different tools and voices. Let’s travel the world with our ears!

1. Hand Drums from West Africa

The djembe comes from West Africa and is played with the hands. Musicians can make deep bass sounds and higher, sharper sounds. It is used in many kinds of music, sometimes with singing or dancing.

2. Bamboo Flutes from East Asia

China’s dizi and Japan’s shakuhachi are different kinds of bamboo flute. Musicians blow air across an opening to make sound. Each instrument has its own shape, history, and musical traditions.

3. String Instruments from Europe

Many European musical traditions use instruments such as guitars and violins. A guitar’s strings are usually plucked or strummed, while a violin’s strings are often played with a bow. The ukulele developed in Hawaiʻi after Portuguese immigrants introduced small guitar-like instruments there.

4. Instruments from South America

South America has many musical traditions. The bombo legüero is a drum used in Argentine folk music. The charango is a small stringed instrument heard in music from the Andes. Music across the continent can be fast or slow and use many different rhythms and instruments.

Did You Know? 🤔

Drums make sound when their stretched surface vibrates. A larger drum can often make deeper sounds than a smaller drum.

Music can help people share rhythms, feelings, and stories. Try clapping a beat or—with a grown-up—making a shaker from a closed container. Explore music respectfully and learn the names and stories of its instruments. 🎵